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    Thread: Part Animal, Part Plant

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      Member Bonsay's Avatar
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      Part Animal, Part Plant



      Shaped like a leaf itself, the slug Elysia chlorotica already has a reputation for kidnapping the photosynthesizing organelles and some genes from algae. Now it turns out that the slug has acquired enough stolen goods to make an entire plant chemical-making pathway work inside an animal body, says Sidney K. Pierce of the University of South Florida in Tampa.

      The slugs can manufacture the most common form of chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants that captures energy from sunlight, Pierce reported January 7 at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. Pierce used a radioactive tracer to show that the slugs were making the pigment, called chlorophyll a, themselves and not simply relying on chlorophyll reserves stolen from the algae the slugs dine on.

      “This could be a fusion of a plant and an animal — that’s just cool,” said invertebrate zoologist John Zardus of The Citadel in Charleston, S.C.


      Microbes swap genes readily, but Zardus said he couldn’t think of another natural example of genes flowing between multicellular kingdoms.
      Link: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/green-sea-slug/#ixzz0cLDcQTSi

      Unless this is an elaborate joke, this must be the awesomest thing I've seen all day! If you read further, they say it even has plant genes in its own genome and doesn't just farm the chloroplasts. How cool is that?! I want one...

      We should totally make green people in the future after we figure it all out.
      Last edited by Bonsay; 01-16-2010 at 01:56 AM.
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      How about plant bacteria or something, make some solar cells with them. I see potential!

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      Awesome I couldn't tell from the article, did these evolve under man-made circumstances, or does it live somewhere naturally?
      Last edited by ninja9578; 01-19-2010 at 12:59 AM.

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      that is pretty awesome...starts to show how arbitrary our categories are, still necessary though lol.
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      Quote Originally Posted by Yoda9578 View Post
      Awesome I couldn't tell from the article, did these evolve under man-made circumstances, or does it live somewhere naturally?
      I've done a bit of reading on this and apparently this happened without human intervention, i.e naturally, which makes it all the more cool.
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      Xei
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      Wow, that's awesome.

      Although I think it eats chloroplasts rather than manufactures them.

      Mmmmm... chloroplasts.

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      Quote Originally Posted by Xei View Post

      Mmmmm... chloroplasts.
      I laughed.

      Awesome article.
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      I can see this characteristic being genetically engineered into human beings...
      It would give a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Going green."
      Solar people. Rock on.

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      Miss Sixy <span class='glow_FFFFFF'>Maria92</span>'s Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by Invader View Post
      I can see this characteristic being genetically engineered into human beings...
      It would give a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Going green."
      Solar people. Rock on.
      That would be awesome...sign me up!

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      I want to see a video of this thing. I'm curious to see if it just floats along, or if it uses that big flat body to swim or something.

      This is certainly a step forwards for the absorption theory of how multicellular life evolved.

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      Wild--it sucks the organelles out of algae, but they think it keeps them supplied with chlorophyll from its own DNA.
      If you have a sense of caring for others, you will manifest a kind of inner strength in spite of your own difficulties and problems. With this strength, your own problems will seem less significant and bothersome to you. By going beyond your own problems and taking care of others, you gain inner strength, self-confidence, courage, and a greater sense of calm.Dalai Lama



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      Xei
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      Have they positively shown that in tests?

      How the hell did it get plant genes in its genome, I wonder.

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      I am become fish pear Abra's Avatar
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      It's so cute!

      Also, why are snails/slugs always the ones with these cool features?

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      Quote Originally Posted by Xei View Post
      Have they positively shown that in tests?

      How the hell did it get plant genes in its genome, I wonder.
      It's the whole point of the article--other slugs absorb chlorophyll from algae, but the study suggests this one has incorporated algae DNA into its own genome to the point that it can synthesize all 16 proteins required to sustain photosynthesis. After one good meal, and with adequate sunlight, it can complete its year-long life cycle without ever eating again.
      If you have a sense of caring for others, you will manifest a kind of inner strength in spite of your own difficulties and problems. With this strength, your own problems will seem less significant and bothersome to you. By going beyond your own problems and taking care of others, you gain inner strength, self-confidence, courage, and a greater sense of calm.Dalai Lama



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      Xei
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      Huh? I know that, my question was how.

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      There is only one possible way. Such complex and beautiful things, obviously can only come about by intelligent design. Nature doesn't make things like that.

      Also to Abra... This is some quantum shit. I wanted to post the armoured snail this morning but I didn't have the time. What made you post it?
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      Quote Originally Posted by Bonsay View Post
      There is only one possible way. Such complex and beautiful things, obviously can only come about by intelligent design. Nature doesn't make things like that.
      Maybe we can split the difference and attribute it to half-wit design?

      One of the commenters suggests the integration of mitochondria into animal cell genomes as a precedent of sorts. When organisms have such a close relationship (not exactly symbiosis or parasitism in this case, more like salvage), I suppose more opportunities arise for genes to get shuffled. Sooner or later it happens in a gamete, and presto! Slugweed.
      If you have a sense of caring for others, you will manifest a kind of inner strength in spite of your own difficulties and problems. With this strength, your own problems will seem less significant and bothersome to you. By going beyond your own problems and taking care of others, you gain inner strength, self-confidence, courage, and a greater sense of calm.Dalai Lama



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      i kind of tripped out when i saw the little guy. i've had conversations with friends about being a mobile photosynthesizer
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      This is awesome! I've wondered before why this behaviour/adaptation hasn't made itself more prevalent. It seems pretty convenient to me.

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      Quote Originally Posted by Xei View Post
      Have they positively shown that in tests?

      How the hell did it get plant genes in its genome, I wonder.
      A random slug was just walking about on a leaf, taking care of it's own business, when a small cosmic storm of energy penetrated both the slug and the leaf, breaking down their DNA and merging it together.

      The birth of the Plantslug.

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      Quote Originally Posted by Xei View Post
      Have they positively shown that in tests?

      How the hell did it get plant genes in its genome, I wonder.
      It is a mystery...I know that bacteria have a tendency to pick up random fragments of DNA from the environment...I also know that the right strands of bacteria are used to genetically engineer plants. A form of natural genetic engineering, perhaps? Pure speculation, I haven't a clue...

      Quote Originally Posted by Taosaur View Post
      Maybe we can split the difference and attribute it to half-wit design?

      One of the commenters suggests the integration of mitochondria into animal cell genomes as a precedent of sorts. When organisms have such a close relationship (not exactly symbiosis or parasitism in this case, more like salvage), I suppose more opportunities arise for genes to get shuffled. Sooner or later it happens in a gamete, and presto! Slugweed.
      Yeah, or that...

      Quote Originally Posted by Marvo View Post
      A random slug was just walking about on a leaf, taking care of it's own business, when a small cosmic storm of energy penetrated both the slug and the leaf, breaking down their DNA and merging it together.

      The birth of the Plantslug.
      I like slugweed better.

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      Xei
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      There is only one possible way. Such complex and beautiful things, obviously can only come about by intelligent design. Nature doesn't make things like that.
      Do you think I'm a creationist or are you just making a joke? :l
      It is a mystery...I know that bacteria have a tendency to pick up random fragments of DNA from the environment...I also know that the right strands of bacteria are used to genetically engineer plants.
      Yeah, bacteria can pick up plasmids which are loops of DNA.

      Animals and plants definitely can't though... to put genes into animal and plant DNA you need special enzymes. As far as I know it's not possible... if it were it seems like something that would happen a lot more often; the ability to inherit whole sets of genes from different kingdoms would have huge effects on evolution, surely.

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      Yes, it is true that animals and plants cannot randomly absorb DNA from the environment...what I had in mind was more of a symbiotic relationship. Perhaps a slug either began cooperating with a bacteria, or else was infected by it. I mean, if plant cells can be infected, why not animal cells? Just pure speculation, once again...

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      Quote Originally Posted by Xei View Post
      Yeah, bacteria can pick up plasmids which are loops of DNA.

      Animals and plants definitely can't though... to put genes into animal and plant DNA you need special enzymes. As far as I know it's not possible... if it were it seems like something that would happen a lot more often; the ability to inherit whole sets of genes from different kingdoms would have huge effects on evolution, surely.
      Quote Originally Posted by Mario92 View Post
      Yes, it is true that animals and plants cannot randomly absorb DNA from the environment...what I had in mind was more of a symbiotic relationship. Perhaps a slug either began cooperating with a bacteria, or else was infected by it. I mean, if plant cells can be infected, why not animal cells? Just pure speculation, once again...
      Actually, it's not at all uncommon. It happens a lot with endosymbionts and intracellular parasites.
      It was hard to prove such things without all the genomic sequences we have now.

      Examples:
      Wolbachia is an intracellular parasite in insects and nematodes. Genetic transfer from its genome to the host genome has been observed many times. They even found a fruitfly that had integrated an entire Wolbachia genome. A percentage of its genes even remained active.

      They have also found that recently more plastid genes moved to plant genomes through RNA intermediates and remained functional.
      Eukaryotic genomes are full of ancient retroviral sequences and retrotransposons that have the capacity to integrate domestic and foreign RNA sequences. 42% of human genome consists of such sequences.
      It looks like the human genome is mostly not human at all

      There are a lot more examples like this

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      Quote Originally Posted by SnakeCharmer View Post
      Actually, it's not at all uncommon. It happens a lot with endosymbionts and intracellular parasites.
      It was hard to prove such things without all the genomic sequences we have now.

      Examples:
      Wolbachia is an intracellular parasite in insects and nematodes. Genetic transfer from its genome to the host genome has been observed many times. They even found a fruitfly that had integrated an entire Wolbachia genome. A percentage of its genes even remained active.

      They have also found that recently more plastid genes moved to plant genomes through RNA intermediates and remained functional.
      Eukaryotic genomes are full of ancient retroviral sequences and retrotransposons that have the capacity to integrate domestic and foreign RNA sequences. 42% of human genome consists of such sequences.
      It looks like the human genome is mostly not human at all

      There are a lot more examples like this
      That's exactly what I'm talking about; a sort of symbiosis between the plant/animal cells and some sort of virus/bacteria/parasite, etc. I never said that plant and animal cells weren't capable of being "infected," just that they don't have much of a tendency to pick up random scraps of DNA from the environment...usually a transfer vector is required.

      And fun fact of the day: 50% of the human genome is similar or identical to that of a banana.

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